Operation Rio Grande it wasn’t — no sweeps, no arrests — but rather a helping hand to some hearty, if cold, homeless campers.
Salt Lake City police, in conjunction with the Volunteers of America (VOA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), on Thursday and Friday reached out to homeless men camped on the hills north of the state Capitol Building.
At a mobile command center along Victory Road, they offered clothing, sleeping bags, medical services and, in some cases, signed them up for transitional housing.
“They are helping us,” said Rex, a 48-year-old man who has been homeless for four years. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I have to give them a lot of credit.”
Rex likes living outdoors, he said, because he has PTSD.
“The shelter is a mad house,” he said. “This place saved my life. When things get too crazy, I just hike up the mountain.”
The outreach stands in contrast from last summer’s Operation Rio Grande, which sought to reduce crime around the downtown homeless shelter. Arrests numbered into the hundreds.
The police are working with the campers to connect them with community services, including medical help, said Ed Snoddy, an outreach worker for VOA.
“We’re doing a lot here,” he said Friday. “No one is going to jail. The police are just here to assist.”
Lt. Robin Heiden said the cooperative outreach was a first, and looked to be successful. “You get people up here with a lot of health issues,” she said. “But they don’t reach out for services.”
One man was transported to the hospital with frostbitten feet, another, who also was suffering from frostbite, was taken to the the Fourth Street Clinic, Snoddy noted. And two veterans were escorted to the VA Hospital to register for services.
In several cases, social workers with the police department’s Community Connection team, helped the homeless men obtain birth certificates, so that they could get valid identification cards.
Randall Ross, 50, has been camped out above Victory Road for about six months. “I don’t see no hard part,” he said of the living conditions. “I don’t call it homeless. I just call it surviving.”
The social workers are helping him obtain his birth certificate. “I’m waiting on my ID,” he said. “I can’t do nothin’ as far as real work ’till I get my ID.”
The cooperative effort reached about three dozen men, some of whom have been without homes for many years.
John, who is 50, has been homeless for 11 years. He avoids the shelter, he said, because his possessions get stolen there.
On Friday, he signed up for housing. “I’m trying to transition back into society,” he said. “It won’t be easy but I’ve got to keep a good attitude.”
Officials don’t want to shut down the camps in winter, Heiden explained, because of the hardship it would cause for the campers.
As such, the outreach workers have advised campers that the Salt Lake County Health Department will soon be coming to clean up trash and waste.
“We’re asking them to help us out with that [garbage],” she said. “And to get into transitional housing.”
This week’s cooperative effort could hold promise for a future model for homeless outreach, but no similar plans have yet been made.
